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This year UCSB has received 47,025 applications - 6,131 more than last year’s count - with the entire UC system spiking an increase of 9.2 percent for their overall applicants. Nearly half (49.4 percent) of the prospective students who applied to University of California schools included UCSB in their choice for an undergraduate program, showing that over the past two years, freshman applications have increased by 18.1 percent. The academic quality of UCBS’s applicant pool continues to be determined by strong grades, test scores and the applicant’s high school ranking. The average high school grand point average (GPA) for students accepted to UCSB last year was was 3.71, with 31 percent at a GPA of 4.0 or higher. Like the perspective students strong GPA, UCSB students continue to maintain high levels of SAT scoring, the average SAT score being 1744 out of 2400. Applications from the underrepresented minority groups such as African-American, American-Indian and Latino applicants increased this year by 31.2 percent, resulting in a 52.7 percent overall of racial or ethnic freshman students.

In a press release, UCSB Admissions Director Christine VanGieson said that UCSB has become more and more recognized as a school of academic excellence within UC system, as well as nationally. Although there has been a surge in college applicants over the past three years, VanGieson credited UCSB’s increase to its rising status. “In our case, the campus’s outstanding academic offerings and the achievements of our faculty are what help attract the interest of more and more prospective students,” she said.